Abstract [en]

This project pays particular attention to the effects on the social and psychological well-being of people, who for different reasons choose to leave their church in a small community. We have performed narrative interviews with ten respondents who all had different reasons for leaving their congregations. The obtained data has then been transcribed with focus on finding common denominators, as well as interpreting our respondents' experiences.

In our analysis of the collected data, we conclude that the social and psychological consequences are that the small community will have an influence on the ex member's well-being, above all through strong feelings of guilt and shame and threats to long-standing social ties.There is, of course, more than one single reason why a person decides to leave, but a major contributing reason is long term surface acting and a sense of freedom from the congregation, as well as freedom to do other things. But what will people say?